Philip Salom
Philip Salom (born 8 August 1950) is a contemporary Australian poet and novelist. Life Growing up on a farm in Brunswick Junction, South West region of Western Australia. Salom had an isolated childhood before boarding at Bunbury during his high school years. He went on to study agriculture at Muresk Agricultural College and then worked for two years as a research assistant on the Northam Research Station. While studying Agricultural Science at University of Western Australia he developed his passion for the arts, painting and singing in the university choir. Uninterested in his course he left university, took various casual jobs, and started writing on a 1972 painting trip to New Zealand. On returning to Perth he enrolled in Curtin University's Literature and Creative Writing course, one of the first of its kind in Australia. On graduating he took a job with the public service in his old area of agriculture. His first poetry collection was published by Fremantle Arts Centre Press in 1980. Since then there have been many poetry collections and two novels. Salom has won both national and international acclaim for his poetry. For most of these years he taught Creative Writing at Curtin and Murdoch University in Western Australia. Late in 1997 he moved with his family to Melbourne. In the next years he lectured at Deakin University and finally at the University of Melbourne. In 2008 he resigned from lecturing and has been writing full time. Salom has performed as a guest poet and lecturer in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, Yugoslavia, Singapore and New Zealand. Writing His writing is distinctive for its metaphoric richness and expansive vision. It is also hugely various from title to title; his creative restlessness extends not only to style but also to conceptual paradigms. Since his first collection, many of his books have depicted imagined worlds or explored conceptually contained sequences - books such as The Projectionist, Sky Poems, The Rome Air Naked, The Well Mouth and Keepers. Keepers is part of a trilogy which is extended through two more books The Keeper of Fish, and Keeping Carter, books ostensibly written by Alan Fish and MA Carter, respectively. These are heteronyms for Salom's new work. Recognition * 1981: Commonwealth Poetry Prize for a First Book (The Silent Piano) * 1984: Western Australian Literary Award for Poetry (The Projectionist) * 1984: South Australian Biennial Literary Award for Poetry - official Second Prize (The Projectionist) * 1985: Writers Fellowship, Australia Council * 1987: Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Overall Best Book (Sky Poems) * 1987: The Age Book of the Year - only poetry book shortlisted (Sky Poems) * 1987: Barbara Ramsden Award, Highly Commended (Sky Poems) * 1988: WA Literary Award for Poetry (Sky Poems) * 1989: Writers Fellowship, Australia Council * 1990: shortlisted National Book Council Banjo Award and Western Australian Literary Award (Barbecue of the Primitives) * 1992: WA Premiers Prize for Fiction (Playback) * 1992: Australia-New Zealand Literary Award, NZ Arts Council * 1992: Inaugural BR Whiting Residency in Rome, Australia Council * 1993: shortlisted Victorian Premiers Prize, National Book council Banjo Award, WA Premiers Prize (Feeding the Ghost) * 1996: shortlisted WA Premiers Prize (The Rome Air Naked) * 1996: Newcastle Poetry Prize * 1999: shortlisted Victorian Premiers Prize, WA Premiers Prize (New and Selected Poems) * 2000: Newcastle Poetry Prize * 2003: Christopher Brennan Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry * 2004: shortlisted ALS Gold Medal for Literature, WA Premiers Prize (Toccata and Rain) * 2005: A Best Book of the Year, Sydney Morning Herald, Adelaide Review (The Well Mouth) * 2006: SA Premiers Prize for Poetry, shortlisted (The Well Mouth) * 2006/7: Writers Fellowship Publications Poetry *''The Silent Piano: Poems. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Press, 1980. *The Projectionist: A sequence. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Press, 1983. *Sky Poems. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Press, 1987. *Barbeque of the Primitives. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1989. *''Poems (with John Kinsella). Applecross, WA: Folio, 1991. *''Tremors. Canberra: National Library of Australia (Pamphlet Poets), 1992. *Feeding the Ghost. Ringwood, Vic: Penguin, 1993. *The Rome Air Naked. Ringwood, Vic: Penguin, 1996. *New and Selected Poems. South Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Press, 1998. *A Cretive Life. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Press, 2001. *The Well Mouth. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Press, 2005. * ''The Family Fig Trees, and other poems. Picaro Press, 2007. *''The Wing Collection: New and selected poems''. Glebe, NSW: Puncher & Wattmann, 2011. The Keepers trilogy * Keepers. Glebe, NSW: Puncher & Wattmann, 2010. ISBN 978-1-921450-396-6 * The Keeper of Fish (as "Alan Fish"). Glebe, NSW: Puncher & Wattmann, 2011. ISBN 978-1-921450-46-4 * Keeping Carter (as "M.A. Carter"). Glebe, NSW: Puncher & Wattmann, 2012. ISBN 978-1-921450-47-1 Novels *''Playback''. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1991; 2003) ISBN 978-1-86368-398-2 *''Toccata & Rain: A novel''. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2004. ISBN 978-1-920731-49-6 Non-fiction *''Poetry Reading: A study guide''. Geelong, Vic: Deakin University, 2003. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Philip Salom, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 1, 2015. See also * List of Australian poets References External links ;Poems *"Thoughts of the Father" *Philip Salom poetry (5 poems) *Philip Salom (1950- ) in the Australian Poetry Library (629 poems). ;Prose *"Writing through Heteronyms," Axon Journal ;About *Philip Salom at the Red Room Company *Philip Salom Official website. *Jaydeep Sarangi in conversation with Philip Salom, interview in Mascara Literary Review, 2013. Category:1950 births Category:Australian novelists Category:Australian poets Category:Living people Category:Writers from Western Australia Category:People from Perth, Western Australia Category:Curtin University alumni Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:University of Melbourne faculty